Saturday, August 10, 2013

When
microorganisms like bacteria, molds, and yeasts colonize and process
various foods, it’s called fermentation. There are many different
kinds of fermentation, just as there are many different kinds of
foods and many different microorganisms. Some of these organisms are
harmful, and will make food dangerous or unpalatable, but if it’s
properly controlled, fermentation can create food that is nutritious,
tasty, and long-lasting.

Many
foods originated as ferments. Condiments, like ketchup, mustard, and
chutney were once fermented, and eaten with particular foods because
they would aid digestion. Few primitive cultures ever drank fresh
milk, having no refrigeration to keep it fresh, but fermented yogurt
and cheese have been common for centuries.

One
of the most helpful types of fermentation is lacto-fermentation,
which results from colonies of lactobacilli
bacteria. These bacteria convert sugars and starches into lactic
acid, which acts as a powerful preservative. Lactobacilli live all
over the place, but are particularly common in raw milk, and are
easily found in commercial yogurt. Many lacto-fermented foods store
well without canning or freezing for several months; they also
promote healthy digestion can help control infestations of Candida.
Wild yeasts are also useful fermenters. They live in the air and all
over normal household surfaces, and make foods like sourdough bread.

Fermented
foods:

can
often store better than the foods they’re made from

help
fight disease

enhance
and improve flavor

improve
nutrient content of the food it’s made from, and improve
absorption of nutrients from foods that accompany them

increase
digestibility of their ingredients

The
basic technique

To
make fermented foods, you need something to ferment, and
microorganisms to ferment it. Quality shows when fermenting, so start
with the best quality ingredients available. For some kinds of
ferments, you’ll also want a starter culture. You might strain
yogurt to get whey for lacto-fermentation, or use things like
sourdough starters, kombucha mothers, or kefir grains shared with
friends. Cleanliness counts, so keep your containers and utensils
clean. Chlorine-free water is also very helpful; water treatment
systems chlorinate water specifically so that fermenting organisms
can’t live in it. Many ferments require salt, to ward off unwanted
bacteria while the fermentation gets going.

Whey
from yogurt or raw milk is often helpful to jump-start
lacto-fermentation, especially with more sugary foods. It can
replace some of the salt in lacto-fermented recipes.

Fermentation
starts off very active, and then calms down. During the active
phase, jars may hiss and release liquid. Put jars on a cookie sheet
for the first week or so, to catch this liquid.

Fermentation
goes faster in warmer temperatures.

Trust
your eyes and nose when fermenting. Some food will spoil, and when
it does, you’ll know it.

Many
ferments require salt. The salty taste will diminish as the food
ages.

When
fermenting several foods simultaneously, separate them, to prevent
the cultures from cross-contaminating.

Store
foods with the lids closed, in cool, dark places. Basements often
work well for this. High sugar content foods should be eaten fairly
quickly; sauerkraut and peppers will last for years on a basement
shelf.

Bread
ferments with yeast, not lactobacilli. Different yeasts do different
things. Commercial bread yeast acts very quickly, and as a result
makes lots of alcohol, which cooks out during baking. Also because of
its speed, commercial yeast cannot break down much of the less
digestible parts of the flour. Wild yeasts, however, such as those
used in sourdough bread, take longer to do their work. During this
longer fermentation, new flavors develop, and the flour is broken
down to be more easily digestible.

Bread
makers who use sourdough generally keep a starter on hand to work
with. This starter is simply a paste of flour and water, which has
been allowed to ferment. With each batch of bread, the baker reserves
some of the starter to use next time. These starters can last for
centuries.

Caring
for a starter

Keep
your starter in a jar with a lid. You’ll need to feed your starter
every day or so. Do this by mixing flour and water (ideally
unchlorinated) in approximately equal proportions, and stirring it
into your starter. A frequently used starter can be fed enough to
double in volume, more or less, at each feeding, but starter used
less often would grow unmanageably at this rate. Watch your starter
to know if it is well fed. A healthy starter will smell OK, and
produce lots of bubbles within a few hours of being fed.

Starters
like to be moved to a new, clean container every few days, and don’t
appreciate changes in the type of flour they get. Where possible,
introduce new flours slowly. Starters must also be kept warm to
remain active, so refrigerate it when you go on vacation, and keep it
warm when you want it to work quickly.

A
starter that has been neglected on the shelf can smell fairly bad,
and sometimes become slimy. These can often be resurrected by
scraping off the top layer and carefully removing some of the
still-viable starter underneath. Mix this into some new flour and
water, and discard the rest. Starters left in the refrigerator often
develop a layer of black liquid, which is perfectly safe. You should
simply stir it back into the starter when you’re ready to use it
again. A small layer of white mold on the starter can be scraped off
or just stirred in, but black or colored molds are a bad sign.

Making
a new starter

Old
starters with a long pedigree are neat, but starters made fresh with
yeasts local to their area often perform better. To make a new
starter,mix a few tablespoons of flour and water into a dough or
thick paste. Leave this paste in a bowl or jar, covered loosely to
keep insects out, for a day or two. It should begin to develop
bubbles. Feed it normally for a few days, keeping it loosely covered.
Within a week it should develop bubbles. If it does, you’ve
succeeded. Transfer it to a jar with a lid, and use it as you would
any starter. If it doesn’t, throw it out and start over.

Tips

ALWAYS
set aside some starter before using the rest in a recipe.

Pancakes
and waffles are more forgiving to a misbehaving starter than bread
is. If your starter smells funny or isn’t as active as you’d
like, make a few batches of pancakes or waffles from it before trying
to make bread again. This is a good way to develop a newborn starter
into something useful.

Whole
grain flours go rancid after grinding. It helps to grind your flour
fresh each time you use it, but you can also keep fresh flour in the
freezer for later use.

Some
grain grinders heat the flour quite a bit, so the starter won’t
take to it well. This is the sign of a lousy grinder.

RECIPES

Ginger
Carrots

4
C grated carrots

1
T freshly grated ginger

1
T sea salt

4
T whey (or another Tbl. salt)

Mix
all ingredients, and pound them with a meat hammer or wooden pounder,
to get some of the juices out. Pack tightly into a quart jar, leaving
an inch of head space. Add water if necessary to cover the carrots.
Close jar tightly, and leave at room temperature for three days to
ferment. Transfer to cold storage.

Pickled
Beets

12
medium beets

1
C water

1
T sea salt

4
T whey (or another Tbl. salt)

2
tsp. cardamom pods (optional)

Peel
and dice beets (grated beets will ferment too quickly). Place them in
a quart jar and press lightly with wooden spoon or pounder. Combine
remaining ingredients and pour over beets, adding water as needed to
cover them well. Leave one inch of headspace in the jar. Close jar
tightly, and allow to ferment at room temperature for about 3 days
before moving to cold storage. The beets are tasty; the liquid
(called beet kvass) isn’t so much, but is very healthful, even
diluted quite a bit.

Pickled
Peppers

10-25
various peppers, hot or otherwise

3
T sea salt

1
C water

spices
as desired; cumin is especially good

Cut
peppers into pieces. Press firmly into a quart jar. Combine other
ingredients and pour over the peppers, adding more water as needed to
cover them. Leave an inch of headspace. Close jar tightly, and
ferment for a week or so at room temperature before moving to cold
storage. Keeps for years.

You
can substitute whey for some of the salt, if you wish. The result
will be more sour, and probably less crunchy.

Sauerkraut

Firm
cabbage

1
T sea salt per head of cabbage

Water

Spices
as desired. Some suggest juniper berries, which taste lousy but may
help the cabbage remain more crisp

Slice
or grate cabbage, and add salt. In a bowl or bucket, pound the
daylights out of the stuff until the juices come out. Add spices, and
pack very tightly into jars. Add water to the jar as needed to cover
the cabbage, leaving an inch of headspace. Close jars tightly, and
leave to ferment for a few days before moving to cold storage. You
can substitute some whey for the salt, if you wish.

Water
kefir

2
quarts water

½
C sugar

about
2 T water kefir buds

Some sources insist white sugar is required for water kefir, while refusing to countenance refined sugar in other recipes. Other sources use sucanat and other unrefined sugars without a second thought. The molasses in unrefined sugar will change the taste, and color the otherwise transparent kefir buds. Experiment with both, if you like. Also, please note that kefir buds don't respond well to the oils from skin, so don't touch them. To make water kefir, mix
water and sugar in a jar. Add kefir buds, and cover with cheesecloth.
Keep in a dark place for three days. Then strain out the buds for a
new batch. We add a bit of juice to the kefir for flavor. If after
filtering out the buds you add a little more sugar and allow to
ferment another day with a tightly closed lid, this will become more
carbonated.

Kombucha

1
gallon freshly brewed tea, at room temperature

1
C sugar

kombucha
mother

½
C kombucha from a previous batch, or white vinegar

The same notes on sugar that apply to water kefir apply to kombucha as well. Black tea is traditional, but green tea and herbal teas will also work, even if they raise the ire of kombucha purists. The caffeine and other harmful substances in black tea are largely consumed and transformed by the fermentation process. To make kombucha, mix
tea, sugar, and kombucha or vinegar in a jar or bowl. Add mother, and cover with
cheesecloth. Allow to ferment 7-10 days. Then remove the mother and
enough kombucha for the next batch. Many people dilute the result
somewhat with juice. As with water kefir, you can ferment this a
second time with a tight lid to make it fizzy. You may find strings of premature mother in the result. You can drink these, or pull them out. With the proper environment these may even make a new mother for you. Note that your mother will grow as you brew successive batches. You'll see the mother will have several layers, one for each batch. Many people choose to remove older layers on occasion, to keep the size of their mother down somewhat. You can touch kombucha mother with clean hands, without danger of hurting it.

Sourdough
pancakes or waffles

Feed
starter in the evening sufficiently to make three or four cups of
doughy starter, and leave covered in a warm place overnight. In the
morning, set aside a bit of starter for future use, and to the rest
add a pinch of salt, two beaten eggs, a teaspoon of baking soda, and
water or milk as necessary to make the consistency of batter. Cook
normally.

Sourdough
bread

A
cup or three of sourdough starter

Several
cups fresh flour

1
T salt, per loaf of bread

Water

This
recipe is fairly inexact, consistent with our baking practices. Set
aside some starter for the next use. Dissolve the salt in a cup or so
of water, in a large mixing bowl, and add the remaining starter. Stir
well. Add flour or water as needed until there’s as much dough as
you want, and it’s a good consistency; we find enough semi-sticky
dough to fill our stoneware bread pan works well for us. This dough
is too sticky for kneading, so here we just dump it in the pan, cover
it loosely, and let it sit for a few hours. Timing here is also a
matter of taste. Left longer, the sour flavor will increase, and the
bubbles will be bigger.

For
a time we would make stiffer dough than we do now. Back then we found
that leaving it to sit for 10 minutes did wonders for its
consistency. With the stiffer dough we would let it rise in the
covered mixing bowl for a while, before putting it in the pans and
allowing it to rise, covered, a second time. Most people advise
against using metal with sourdough, and presumably this extends to
metal loaf pans, but we never had a problem with ours that we
attributed to the pan.

Once
in a pan and allowed to rise, the dough is ready for baking, at 350F.
Our pan takes an hour or so, but we end up taking the bread’s
temperature with a meat thermometer. It should get to 165F.